Leveraging capital projects to amplify mission

Capital projects are large investments, and their design and implementation merit thoughtful preparation, as well as intentional evaluation and reflection. They should be built with purpose—grounded in a clear and strategic mission that informs design decisions, with a scope that matches what its organization can afford to build, operate, and maintain.

Click here to read more about the research project.

The National Design Awards were conceived by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design. 

Read a statement from the MASS team.

The Ilima community partnered with the African Wildlife Foundation and our architecture firm, MASS Design Group, in 2012 to create a new conservation focused primary school and community center. This film documents our collective building process - one aimed at leveraging local craft and ecological knowledge towards education, preservation, and beauty.

Read more about the film.

Upcoming screening dates will be available soon.

We measure the impact of design on health outcomes. 

With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ariadne Labs and MASS Design Group have collaborated to explore the role of design in improving the quality of clinical care in childbirth.

Read the whole report.

The Holocaust is a weight we must carry personally and collectively.

Our UK Holocaust Memorial proposal is a call to action.

Please read more about the project.

After a catastrophe, how can we heal a community?

“This is a revolution. A positive revolution.”
 —Florence Duperval Guillaume, Former Haitian Minister of Health 

Please watch our documentary trailer and learn more.

We need memorials that embrace truth.

The Equal Justice Initiative and MASS Design Group want to create a memorial space that embraces truth and encourages reflection and change.

“I believe we need to talk about the shame of slavery. We need to talk about the shadows that still haunt us.”
 —Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative 

Read more about our project.

Can shelter reduce maternal mortality?

Taking design cues from rural towns, the Maternity Waiting Village in Kasungu, Malawi gives mothers who travel to give birth at a health clinic a comfortable place to stay in the final weeks of their pregnancy.

Read more about the project's design and construction.

Africa needs local human-centered designers.

In September, we will launch our first class of African Design Centre fellows in Kigali, Rwanda. The hands-on program will prepare them to take on the primary infrastructure challenges of a growing and urbanizing continent.

Learn about the African Design Centre.